On Friday the 23rd the Orkney u14 took the overnight boat to Aberdeen. They were going to the Aberdeen sports village followed by lunch and then on to an international game Scotland v Tonga at Pittodrie which every one was really excited for.

Arriving in Aberdeen on Saturday the boys went to the Sports village for a talk from Chris Paterson and Chris Cursiter followed by a question and answer session. After that it was time to do the skill work. There were six areas with different skills being worked on at each. The three main skills they worked on were kicking, hand catch and off loading. There were two areas per skill. We were put in to groups with different people as there were people from all over Scotland attending. At the end of the skill training event every one went and got changed in to there shirt and tie and went for lunch at Burger King. We then travelled to Pittodrie for the international game Scotland v Tonga. Some boys bought Scotland flags for the game and then all the Orkney rugby teams met to watch the game together. When Scotland came out on to the stadium the crowd cheered very loud, it was a packed stadium. Everyone then rose for the Tonga national anthem followed by the Scottish national anthem (Oh Flower of Scotland). The match then began with Tonga having kicked off. The crowd booed at Tonga when they were doing well and cheered when it was Scotland. In the second half of the game a streaker ran on to the field which brought laughter to the stadium. Near the end off the game Scotland were losing 15-18 when they managed to get a scrum, the crowd went wild with cheering and waving flags but Tonga some how got the ball and ran up the pitch with support and Scotland had poor defence so then Tonga were able to score to make the final score 15-21. After the match I asked Ali Morgan what was his best part of the trip and he said “ the Scotland game was amazing and the kicking at the village was awesome.” Then I asked Matthew Rendall what he enjoyed about the trip and he said “it was a great experience with the international game and I got a little help from Chris Cursiter with stand off work at the village.” Development Officer Bruce Ruthven commented;“The boys worked very hard at the Sports village and despite being some of the younger members there, they got stuck in and did Orkney proud. It was great to see the enthusiasm the boys were showing at the international and despite a poor result they supported Scotland admirably. Well done to the boys for their attitude and behaviour over the weekend and they all looked very smart in the shirt & ties.”BY RYAN ARCUS